Nestle, others eye stake in snack maker Yoga Bar

Nestle India Ltd, the native unit of the world’s largest meals firm, and different strategic and monetary buyers are in talks to purchase a major stake in dietary snacks startup Yoga Bar, at the very least three individuals conscious of the deal mentioned.

Nestle India has completed due diligence, and additional talks are on, one of many three mentioned, requesting anonymity.

Yoga Bar, backed by enterprise capital funds equivalent to Elevation Capital and Fireside Ventures, is being valued at round ₹450-500 crore, the second individual cited above mentioned. “The firm has additionally held talks with personal fairness corporations to boost main capital of round $20-25 million. Discussions are at the moment on,” the person added.

Nestle, the maker of Maggi noodles and Nescafe coffee, has been eyeing small deals in the health and supplement space. While some of its rivals have been ramping up their portfolio through acquisitions, the Swiss firm has not done any major deals in India recently. However, in July, it acquired the pet foods business of Purina Petcare India for ₹123.5 crore. Sproutlife Foods Pvt. Ltd, Yoga Bar’s parent, the third person said, has held talks with several consumer firms for a strategic transaction, but a deal fell through because of differences over valuation.

While a Yoga Bar spokesperson termed the development as “inaccurate”, an emailed question to Nestle India went unanswered until press time.

Sproutlife, based in 2014 by sisters Suhasini Sampath and Anindita, first raised funding from Fireside Ventures in 2015. The enterprise capital agency, co-founded by former Helion Venture co-founder Kanwaljit Singh, invested $3.3 million in the startup from 2015 to 2018, in line with VCCEdge, the info and intelligence platform of VCCircle. Elevation joined Fireside in Yoga Bar’s final fairness fundraise, a collection C spherical, in August 2020.

Besides protein bars and muesli, the corporate additionally sells peanut butter, whey protein and gluten-free oats.

In June, in its maiden acquisition, Sproutlife purchased nutrition-based meals firm, SuperHealthy, which specializes in premium nuts, seeds and path mixes.